SENTENCED: Jarrad Flinn, 24, (centre) buttons his jacket as he leaves Maroochydore District Court after pleading guilty to a nightclub attack that left an 18-year-old man with a broken jaw.Tessa Mapstone

Judge orders $6000 compensation for 18yo with broken jaw

A CONCRETER who attacked an 18-year-old man who was celebrating his coming of age in a Noosa Heads nightclub has been sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm.

Jarrad Flinn, 24, today pleaded guilty to the charge in Maroochydore District Court.

His victim went to the hotel and nightclub to celebrate his first night of being able to legally drink, prosecutor Rebecca Marks said.

She said Flinn thought he heard the victim threaten him as they queued to buy drinks at the bar, about 2am on May 21 last year.

"He did not stop to think, ask questions or remove himself from that instance and ultimately assaulted the innocent complainant who did not make any such comments," she said.

Flinn grabbed his victim by the shirt, pulled him into a headlock and when both men fell to the ground Flinn punched the young man in the head, breaking his jaw.

The 18-year-old man needed an operation to splint his teeth, remove wisdom teeth and insert a plate and screws into his jaw.

Defence barrister Stephen Courtney said relatives and contractors of Flinn's concreting business, family friends, a football coach, a landlord and a chaplain from his former school spoke of a man for whom the attack was completely out of character.

"He had been drinking and as he tells the police there were periods of memory loss," he said.

"He believed there was a threat, there's no other explanation for his conduct."

Mr Courtney said Flinn had saved $6000 to offer his victim compensation.

Judge Gary Long accepted Flinn was sorry for what had happened, and that it was an unplanned attack.

He sentenced him to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, and ordered he pay $6000 compensation.